Pretty World
by soulpicnic
Summary: One morning, in the seventh year of their relationship, Brittany wants Santana to go on a treasure hunt.. and find her. :)
1. One

It was a morning in one very lovely, very sunny May when Santana woke up alone in her bed.

Well, her _and _ Brittany's bed, actually... which is why she wasn't too pleased about not finding her girlfriend next to her like she would every morning for the last... _Wow,_ she thought to herself and unconsciously smiled at the realization. _Seven years. We've been together for seven years. _

Not literally every morning, of course, because there were days when they had to be apart. When she was still bar tending in New York, Santana would sometimes spend the rest of her nights restocking the back room of Coyote Ugly, for example, and not come home until after Brittany got out of the apartment. Or, some days, Brittany would have to travel out of town for an audition, a show, or to represent her dance studio for a competition and all that. Then there were days when they had to visit Lima separately to see their parents because the moms and dads just couldn't bare to wait until Christmas to see their respective daughters.

So, yeah. Not literally every morning, not literally every day, but they _had_ been together forever because, emotionally, they'd never spent a second apart.

"Britt?" Santana croaked with her pillow voice. When she didn't get a response, she reluctantly peeled the covers off of her and started to zombie walk towards the living room, scratching the back of her head as if it would get the sleep out of her.

It wasn't that big of a house, what they had. It was just adequate— compared to the lavish Hollywood lifestyle their celebrity peers seemed to have. The house had a main bedroom, two guest rooms (one for each set of the parents), a normal sized living room that doubled as a dining room (most of the time they just eat on the couch), and a big enough kitchen that both of them had often used to surprise the other on birthdays, anniversaries and other important days— like the "Make Santana Smile Day" that Brittany insisted on having when she realized it had been exactly 5 years since Santana's abuela last spoke to her granddaughter.

(Brittany made happy face pancakes for Santana in the morning, happy face sandwich for lunch and happy face spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. She made Santana feel so very loved the whole day that the darker girl actually cried that night, repeatedly telling her how much she loved her.)

It wasn't because they couldn't afford something bigger that they picked this particular house. Au contraire, they were actually making more than enough money to afford a much bigger place and then some. They just didn't want to. They liked living in a cozy bubble. It made everything feel more... domestic.

Brittany arrived in New York not long after her high school graduation day, knocking on the door of the loft where Santana was living with Kurt and Rachel. When Santana opened the door to reveal Brittany with nothing but the clothes on her back and a smile on her face, the other two people in the room, a.k.a. Santana's roommates, a.k.a. the Wonder Twins, thought Brittany literally brought nothing from Lima with her and came without preparation. But Santana knew better and explained to the other two residents of the loft that Brittany's plan to move had been brewing for a while. All the Skype calls they had been having were dedicated towards mending their relationship, now that Sam was out of the picture.

(Brittany realized that loving Sam didn't come as easy to her as loving Santana. She loved him, but not like how she loved Santana; which was more than she'd ever loved anybody in this world.)

Santana quickly explained to her roommates that Brittany already had a place to stay and she was the one who was actually planning to move within a month— to live with Brittany. Of course the news threw Kurt and Rachel into panic mode. They were both at the ends of their financial ropes. Both of them were still in NYADA, and that damn expensive school was eating up their bank accounts. Rachel couldn't and didn't want to ask for more money from her dads because she thought Hiram and Leroy deserved to still have their annual Dolly Parton cruise and all of their other annual traditions, while Kurt couldn't possibly ask Burt for anything because the poor man was still battling his cancer. Without Santana paying her portion of the rent, they wouldn't be able to keep the loft.

So Brittany ended up moving _into_ the loft. But she couldn't break her own apartment lease yet. The sleazy, greasy landlord pointed out a fine print in his copy of the apartment lease (Brittany swore on Lord Tubbington's grave that it wasn't there before) that said she had to pay double the year's rent if she were to break the lease. So, Santana still had to shell out a portion of her monthly pay towards the loft's rent like before, while Brittany basically paid her own apartment just for her stuff to have a place.

It was a weird situation. Kurt, Rachel and Brittany all felt bad for putting Santana in the middle, but the truth is, Santana didn't mind. She would never admit this to anybody, but she wasn't really ready to pack and leave the loft (and leave Kurt and Rachel).

The 1.5 years the four of them spent living together were interesting. At first, Brittany had to keep up with how much Santana's behavior towards Kurt and Rachel had changed, but she decided that she liked how open, sweet and relaxed Santana was around their former high school classmates. And she let the pair know how grateful she was for taking care of her Santana by bringing home their favorite desserts every other night after her dance classes.

Like Santana, Brittany didn't feel college was the way to go. She knew who she was and who she was, is not a college student. Her parents weren't particularly fond of their daughter's idea of forgoing college education altogether, but they succumbed anyway and understood where she was coming from. Brittany told her parents that she could get into any college if she wanted to, and she proved it by getting a good SAT score (she ended up with the best score in McKinley High) and graduating with the rest of her glee club friends. But Brittany also told them that she wouldn't.

She told them that she (with a little help from Santana) believed in herself. That she was (is) a dancer, and she was going to go through life dancing. And that if her parents had an ounce of faith in her, they should let her at least try and do so.

They did, and Brittany spent almost all of her New York days in dance classes and going to auditions while her three roommates go about their daily lives. They were all struggling with their own things, but all of them cherished the rare nights when everyone got together to unwind in front of the TV. And just like how Santana came to held them dear, Brittany grew to appreciate Kurt and Rachel more than she had ever did before.

Mercedes Jones, who was in Glee club with them during high school gave both Brittany and Santana a call several years ago and asked if they would want to join her management in LA. At the time, her sophomore album, "'Cedes", was nominated for a Grammy award. She didn't win, but she got a lot of buzz surrounding the founding of her own recording company. The fierce powerhouse wanted to sign Santana as one of her new artists, and she told them right from the start that the offer was not because they were friends.

Well, okay, maybe it was a part of the reason. But Mercedes made it really clear that she wanted to sign Santana up because she thought— and she still thinks this way until this day— that Santana's voice was one of the best; and that she deserved to be in the spotlight.

Hearing the offer, Santana was extremely flattered. But it didn't mean that she didn't spend a lot of sleepless nights thinking about it. The night she got the call, she _just_ got a raise and several extra vacation days from her boss. Sure, she was still working at Coyote Ugly and every now and then drunk old men would grope her ass before they got kicked out by security. But, at the time it was the only source of income available for her. It took a while for her to finally be in a comfort zone with what she was doing, and she really didn't want to let it go. Besides, the whole year of working and performing at Coyote Ugly really took its toll on her. She often wondered to herself if she really had what it takes to be a legitimate performer— and the answer had slowly regressed from "hell yeah!" to "who am I kidding?" because, guess what? A girl could only take so much rejections after going into so many auditions and not getting any callbacks.

Although, now that she could finally look back with ease, she probably was aiming at the wrong audience. As much as she loved the city, New York was probably not her scene after all.

It was a different story with Brittany. She didn't have any hesitation to accept Mercedes' offer of becoming the singer's studio dancer-slash-head choreographer except for the fact that if Santana didn't take the offer, they would have to be apart and living in opposite coasts.

She really_ really_ didn't want it to happen.

So she talked about it with Santana, carefully pushing her girlfriend towards believing in herself again— like how she convinced Brittany she could do anything. It was a very good thing that the two of them had grown better in talking out their feelings. Santana, especially. She had learned that the lack of communication was what essentially pushed them apart _every. single. time. _Even though Brittany and her had always had this magical connection that didn't require them to explicitly talk about everything, she had learned that there would always be moments when talking out loud is needed. Especially if Santana wanted to keep their promise of 'forever' that was etched on each of their promise ring.

When Santana, after careful conversations with Brittany, the Lopez clan, the Pierce family, Rachel and Kurt, finally made a decision to move with Brittany to Los Angeles, her two roommates understood that this was something they really wanted to do. Luckily, as if the universe had planned it all along, Rachel and Kurt's financial situation at the time had grown so much better. Burt Hummel was declared free of cancer, and both Kurt and Rachel had been recognized as new talents by NYADA's Broadway directors connections. They had gotten cast for small parts in various productions and they no longer needed Santana's and Brittany's contributions towards monthly rent money.

The goodbye was kind of bittersweet. Santana didn't think she had ever given Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel longer hugs than those full 3 minutes that day. She felt like she owed Kurt and Rachel so much. After all, she did move in unexpectedly and lived there for free during her first months in New York. The many days of fights and insults seemed so little as she looked back. To be honest, she really didn't know what would've happened had they not sheltered her in the loft.

She loved them. Not like she would tell you, though. In fact, she also would never tell you that the reason why she woke up nearing noon that morning in May, was because she stayed up reading good reviews about Rachel's latest endeavor; a supporting role in the Broadway production of_ Dances with Wolves_.

That's right.

_Dances with Wolves_.

It was a bizarre stage production in itself, but all the reviews praised Rachel's performance. One tough critic even wrote she was the next Barbra Streisand. Santana couldn't help but hearing an imaginary an ear piercing squeal in her head when she tried to picture Rachel's reaction upon reading those reviews.

"Britt," Santana called again. This time louder as she walked through the apartment. "Brittany, is this my punishment because I didn't get into bed until 4 last night?"

Still no answer and still no sign of Brittany. The house was empty, except for her and 2 pieces of paper that she found stuck on the fridge. The first one, which was a sticky note, said, _"find me :) . Here's your first clue," _and then an arrow pointing to a bigger piece of paper.

Santana took the "clue" off the refrigerator door and chuckled as she observed what was in it. Brittany had drawn a little scenery on it with markers. Two silhouettes sitting on a sandy beach, and the words _"why don't we take a little piece of [insert the name of our favorite cafe by the beach here], hang it on a tree." _

And then on the bottom corner of the paper is a lipstick mark she recognized as Brittany's lips— of course she knew Brittany's lips by heart— and a simple _I love you_ that made her swoon before she scrunched her face in confusion.

A riddle? But Santana felt like she knew the words from somewhere. She was sure they belong to a song.

_Favorite beach cafe? _Santana traced Brittany's writing, mumbling the words as she read them. _Why don't we take a little piece of..._

Of course! Summer Sky!

_"Why don't we take a little piece of Summer Sky, hang it on a tree," _Santana started singing, smiling as she realized that the name was a perfect match.

The words belonged to an old song that Brittany had found by chance on Youtube, and when she looked up the lyrics, she fell in love with it so hard that she couldn't stop singing it for 1 week straight. She even started teaching a bossa nova class because of the song and now all her students are familiar with the rest of Sergio Mendes' discography.

Santana shook her head in amusement and got up to find her phone. She pressed Brittany's speed dial number (which is 2, because according to Brittany, 2 is 'the number of the duck') and stuck the phone between her right ear and shoulder as she changed out of her shorts into a pair of jeans. Unfortunately, she didn't get to hear Brittany's sweet, sweet voice greeting her as her call was left unanswered. She did, however, hear Brittany's voice message telling her to leave a message.

"Babe," Santana chuckled into the phone. "Really? A treasure hunt? You're lucky you're the most precious treasure ever and I don't ever want to live without you. OK, well... Guess I better run if I want to find you. Bye! Love you the mostest!"

And with that she put on a bit of makeup, zipped up her hoodie, put on her super huge sunglasses (hey, these days privacy is a luxury for both her and her girlfriend) and grabbed her car keys. She had one mission to complete and it was to find Brittany...

(who was totally planning a surprise, by the way).

* * *

**_A/N:_**

_Wheeew.. what do you think Brittany's going to do? ;)_


	2. Two

**_A/N:_**

_I'm soooo sorry for this subpar writing! Thanks for reading it anyway x)_

_NYABG: Helloooo, Little Whale! :D_

* * *

For some reason, Summer Sky wasn't as crowded as Santana had expected. In fact, it was completely deserted. If it weren't for the valet guy who politely waved his hand at her when she drove passed the empty parking lot, she wouldn't have known the place was open.

"Nice to see you again, Ms. Lopez," the valet greeted as he opened the door for her.

Santana gave him a smile as she stepped out and glanced at his name tag. "Thanks, Josh. The cafe's open, right? It's so empty out here."

"Oh, don't worry, Ms. Lopez. The cafe will always be open for _you_," Josh said with a wink and a big smile. He took the car keys from her hand and got into the driver's seat, but he didn't drive away before he told her to have a nice day and to enjoy Summer Sky— and wished her good luck.

Santana watched him drive away in her car with confusion, and suspicion. Luck? Why would she even need luck? She was only there to see Brittany. It wasn't like she was there to conquer a marathon or something.

A warm wind brought the scent of the ocean to her senses and she was brought out of her daze. Maybe Josh was just one of those... _special_ people. And by special, she meant creepy. Santana shuddered at the thought and shook her head, and as she made her way closer to the cafe's entrance, she made a mental note to double check her glove compartment later for missing things. She really didn't want a repeat of last years stalker case when a super friendly barista from her neighborhood's coffee shop ended up digging through her trash for anything she could get her hands on (and that included discarded sheets of tissue Brittany used when she had a nasty bug).

Oh... and while she was at it, she made a promise to herself to also spray the whole interior of the car with cans of disinfectant. Yes— cans.

The glass walls of the building made it easy for Santana to notice that the parking lot wasn't the only thing that was deserted. One look through the thick, clear barrier, she immediately found out that aside from the greeter and a few waiters going about their businesses, there was practically nobody inside. She began to wonder if she had guessed the riddle wrong— though it was unlikely. That was exactly how the song went.

"Miss Lopez," a greeter, a woman in her late mid 30s, opened the door and and held it for her. "We've been waiting for you."

Once again Santana took the time to look at the woman's name tag and memorized the name; Sarah. If there was one thing she took away from her time spent with her PR agents, is that it never hurts to be kind to your hosts. You never know when you're going to need them to show you the back door.

(Those pesky paps could be such a pain.)

"Hi," Santana smiled. She stepped inside and took off her sunglasses. "You've been waiting for me?"

"Uh-huh," Sarah smiled and made a little gesture for Santana to follow her to the stairs. They walked in silence and for some reason, Santana got nervous. There was this nagging feeling that she was lead into a trap. As if someone was going to ambush her and take embarrassing photos of her or something. But once they got to the bottom of the stairs, the thought was dismissed by the mention of Brittany's name.

Sarah stepped aside and let the famous singer through. "Miss Pierce is waiting for you upstairs in our sun deck area. She's ordered for you too, so everything is already taken care of, but if you want to order anything else, just let me know."

Hearing her girlfriend's surname, Santana instantly relaxed. She had forgotten that she was here because Brittany wanted her to be. There was no way Brittany's plan was to shame her.

Santana looked at the flight of stairs in front of her and unconsciously smiled with the prospect of spending the day with Brittany out in the sun. "Thanks, Sarah. I'll be sure to holler for you if I need anything," she told the waitress politely before climbing up the stairs.

The moment Santana opened the door, she was greeted by the beautiful day that it was. Above her a few seagulls flew freely across the blue sky and, even though she was kind of nervous about any... _droppings_, she took off her hoodie anyway to allow herself be enchanted by the atmosphere. She closed her eyes afterwards, enjoying the fresh air and the sound of the waves crashing into the beach. It had been quite a while since she last had the freedom to do anything without some sort of interruption from the management or some infuriating paparazzi who made money out of her invaded privacy. She knew it was an inevitable consequence of being famous, but if she was being completely honest with herself, sometimes it felt like she was constantly suffocating.

"What, I don't even get a hello?" a voice came from a near distance and Santana found herself automatically smiling hearing it.

_Brittany._

Santana opened her eyes and found her girlfriend sitting (well, half lying down, actually) on one of the sun beds to her right. The sun was shining bright and Brittany's blonde hair was glimmering under it— and Santana couldn't help but sigh. _So beautiful._

"Hey baby," Santana walked closer to where Brittany was and gave her the smile she reserved only for the blonde. "I missed you this morning."

Brittany stood up and met her girlfriend halfway to give her a kiss and offer her a hand. "You were snoring so I had to get out of the house," she said with a playful grin.

Santana's eyes widened. "I do _not_ snore!

"Yeah, you do. You were super loud. Like, remember how Lord Tubbington's belly used to make that sound when he was hungry?"

"I did _not_! Britt, there's no way I made that kind of noise," Santana scrunched her nose, offended from the comparison.

Brittany tugged Santana's hand to walk back to the sunbed she occupied before. "Yes way. It's okay though cause I still think you're cute."

Santana shook her head. "I still don't believe you."

"Fine," Brittany raised an eyebrow challengingly. "The next time you do that I'll record a video."

Santana was about to protest when Brittany put a finger against her lips.

"Baby," Brittany gave her a look. "I love you and everything, but I've booked the whole cafe just for us today. So, as much as I would love to argue about your snore, how about we enjoy this beautiful day together, hm?"

Santana's whole face softened hearing the request. Now she knew why it was the cafe's so empty. She should've guessed it right away that it was something that Brittany had arranged. The girl _did_ have a thing with surprises (a certain sex tape— spliced with a tubby cat doing house chores— came to her mind).

Santana gave Brittany's finger a little kiss and nodded.

"I love you too. And yes, let's do that," agreed Santana, lowering her back to lean against the sunbed.

As if on cue, Sarah, the greeter from downstairs, appeared at the door with several other waiters who had covered plates in their hands. With just a nod, she silently commanded all of them to set everything down on the table that was in front of the celebrity couple. Santana and Brittany watched in silence as they worked, and thanked everybody when they were done. Sarah then dismissed her co-workers and reminded the blonde and the brunette that she was just an intercom away.

"Wow," Santana breathed out when she saw the number of plates in front of her. "That's a lot of stuff, Britt."

"Mm-hmm."

"1... 2..." Santana started counting. "Nine!"

"Yep," answered Brittany, popping the 'p' at the end.

Santana chuckled. "Britt, are you really that hungry? Cause we both aren't big eaters and I can tell you right now that we're going to have a lot of doggie bags later."

Brittany didn't say anything back. She smiled, though, and gave Santana a quick peck before she reached for a plate that was closest to her. There was a reason why the table was set up the way it was.

"Open it," Brittany brought the plate closer and motioned for Santana to take off the lid.

Santana did, and she laughed. Brittany _would_ order chocolate pudding from Summer Sky's kitchen—

_Hooold up._

Santana furrowed her eyebrows. "I didn't know they have chocolate pudding."

"They don't," Brittany smiled softly. "I asked them to make it."

"You asked them to make you chocolate pudding?"

Brittany grabbed a spoon and scooped a small amount of the pudding to feed Santana (who blushed and mentally rolled her eyes at herself for being such a schoolgirl).

"The first day we met, we were freshmen at McKinley," Brittany started her story. "I didn't know anybody and I arrived late at school that day because my dad had to drop off my little sister at her school. I ended up eating alone at the cafeteria 'cause I haven't made any friends yet."

Santana only nodded at Brittany's words, slightly confused. She already knew all those things and she wondered why Brittany was retelling her the story.

"Some kid— who later became one of our best friends, Puck— accidentally knocked my tray while he was getting up and my pudding cup fell off the table. And then, right before the bell rang," Brittany scooped another spoonful of chocolate pudding for Santana, "out of nowhere this girl placed her pudding cup as she walked behind me."

Santana couldn't help but grin. "That was me."

"That was you," Brittany nodded, grinning as wide. "And I secretly followed you everywhere that week until I finally got the courage to talk to you during the Cheerios tryouts."

"Aw," Santana planted a kiss on Brittany's lips. "My little stalker."

Brittany smiled into the kiss. Santana's lips tasted like chocolate. "That's right. Your little stalker— even though I'm taller and you're like... tiny."

"Technicality," Santana shrugged. She tried to deepen their kiss, but Brittany pulled away much too soon for her liking. "Baaabe," whined Santana.

Like before, Brittany only give her a simple, yet playful, smile. She put down the pudding, grabbed a second plate from the table and told Santana to open the cover again.

"Britt," Santana covered her mouth as she laughed. "You did NOT just order dinosaur chicken nuggets from them."

"I did," Brittany grinned so hard that there were lines forming around her eyes and nose (and Santana fought hard not to kiss every single one).

"Any particular reason why? Or do you just want to be like... 9 again?"

Brittany picked a nugget up and lifted the T-Rex to Santana's mouth. Santana bit off a chunk, and as she started to chew, Brittany spoke again.

"One year after that, we became... a _different_ kind of friends," said Brittany, and Santana blushed and smirked at the same time. If she didn't have a story to tell, Brittany would've smacked her arm for being so sexually smug all the time. So she ignored the look on Santana's face and continued. "It all began when you asked me to come for a sleepover one weekend. Your mom and dad had to travel somewhere so they left us alone with the house. Then, for some reason, we thought cooking would be better than ordering a pizza— even though neither of us really knew how to cook."

Brittany didn't take her eyes off Santana's and the latter girl couldn't stop looking at the twinkle in Brittany's eyes as they bore into hers. There was something hidden in them. If not in those blue eyes, then in the mellow, nostalgic way Brittany was talking. She just couldn't tell what yet. She just hoped it was a good thing.

(God, she really hoped it was something good.)

"I remember that day," Santana said softly, nodding her head slowly. "Those nuggets were the only thing we knew how to cook- and we almost burned them."

"And the house," Brittany chimed in to remind Santana.

Santana nodded again with a chuckle. "Yes. And the house. Luckily I knew where the extinguisher was. Come to think of it I think I was more upset because most of those nuggets went completely black."

"That's so racist," Brittany deadpanned.

Santana gave a little slap on Brittany's arm. "Shut up," she laughed. "You know what I mean. I was more upset because I couldn't be a good host to you."

"Oh," Brittany looked at her girlfriend with a realization. "And there I was thinking you were crying because you were afraid of your parents' reaction."

"Well, I guess that played a part too. But seriously, I was kind of trying to impress you the whole weekend you were there."

"All this time I thought I was kissing you to calm you down," said Brittany with mock disappointment. "You mean I wasted all those kisses for nothing?"

"Well," Santana husked and nuzzled into the crook of Brittany's neck. "Not really for nothing. I'd say we've gotten lots of awesome sweet lady kisses out of it, right? Not to mention the other stuff."

Brittany swallowed the drool pooling in her mouth. That husky, raspy, delicious voice of Santana's really could kill her someday. Not that she would mind, but she had something important she would like to do that day. So the blonde cleared her throat and put down the nuggets. Santana wasn't very happy about that ("hey! I want some more of that!") but she quieted down anyway when she saw Brittany reaching for another plate.

"Not long after that, you realized that being a unicorn could be hard," Brittany continued. "But then you told me you loved me in front of our lockers one day— and I broke your heart."

Santana gulped uneasily. She could still remember exactly what happened that day and the days leading to it. She remembered talking about feelings (something that she sometimes still struggle with), and she remembered singing Landslide with and for Brittany in front of the Glee club (something that she would never ever regret of doing). She remembered yelling at some girls to leave the bathroom the day after so she could have her space to nervously prepare a whole speech for Brittany— which ended up discarded as her emotions (and tears) got the best of her.

"I broke your heart and you wouldn't let me hug you and my heart broke with you," Brittany continued and she tucked a strand of Santana's hair behind her ear with one free hand. "Watching you walk away is always the hardest thing for me to do."

"Britt—"

"Here," Brittany interrupted Santana with a smile. It wasn't a time to be sad at all, so she urged Santana's to open the dish in front of her.

Santana quietly pulled the dish cover off the plate to reveal... a stack of pancakes. The relevance lost to her— until Brittany carried on with her memory.

"We went through a rough month without talking to each other, and I thought I'd lost my best friend. But when Artie called me stupid, it didn't take even a second before you tried cheering me up. You drove me off campus that day and we ditched our classes to share pancakes," Brittany looked up at the sky as she recalled that particular day. "And I asked you why we were eating pancakes, and you said—"

"I said pancakes are the best way to start a day, and that we can just pretend the day hadn't happened yet," Santana smiled; very much relieved that their third plate didn't turn out to be a sad reminder of an almost forgotten rough patch. Santana put a hand on Brittany's arm when the blonde was about to feed her again. "Why are you doing all this, Britt? Why are we reliving those years?"

Brittany shrugged. "I'm celebrating."

"Oh my God," Santana gasped. Her eyes widened from worry. "Did I miss an anniversary or something? I did, didn't I? Oh my God, I can't even remember what anniversary it is! Is it the first-time-we-took-a-bath-together anniversary? No, that can't be right," Santana lowered her voice as if she was talking to herself. "We just celebrated it with a bath together last week..."

"Ssh, Santana," chuckled Brittany. Her girlfriend could be so cute sometimes when she was panicking. "You didn't miss anything."

"I didn't?" Santana scrunched her eyebrows. "So what's all this about? What are you celebrating?"

"I'm celebrating..." Brittany paused and gave her answer a thought. " I'm celebrating our life together. I'm celebrating the years we've been through, and all the years I see ahead of us," she gave her girlfriend a kiss on the temple before she whispered into Santana's hair with all her heart. "And I see thousands of them in my mind."

oOoOo

About two hours later, Santana was full and happy. Her stomach and heart were immensely satisfied because Brittany kept feeding her food and wonderful memories.

She found out that the nine plates stood for the nine years they had spent together since that first day they met. During the 4th plate, which was an order of shrimp cocktail as a reminder of their first dinner as an official couple, she realized how amazing her girlfriend was. Brittany waited for Santana time and time again until she was ready. And then they broke up and played the push and pull game— with noble intentions— but ultimately, it was Brittany who told her that they really needed to learn proper communication instead of making one-sided decisions.

Luckily, both of them were fast learners. They got a lot better at really talking and listening to each other. All the heartaches and sleepless nights spent with crying were worth the bond that they presently have.

It didn't mean that they were indestructible, because nothing is, but both of them knew that they would do anything to keep the beautiful thing they had going on from breaking.

Santana looked around and her gaze fell on a menu sheet on the table. She couldn't imagine what Summer Sky's kitchen staff must've thought when Brittany made the (seemingly random) requests. She was particularly fond of the of spaghetti and ketchup plate, because it reminded her of the tough days in New York when she and Brittany had to eat nothing but boiled pasta and McDonald's ketchup— which they had saved in a jar every time they bought takeout.

_Ah. Good times._

Well, okay, maybe not _that_ good. But now that they could actually look back, Santana couldn't help but realize that it never mattered. Whether or not they had money, just waking up next to Brittany made her happy. She didn't care much about what they were going to have for dinner. As long as she got to snuggle on the couch with her favorite blonde at the end of the day, she was content to sleep with just a few Ritz crackers in her stomach.

Speaking of the blonde, Santana was a little bit upset that Brittany wasn't sitting next to her anymore. She was more upset with herself, though, because she agreed to resume playing Brittany's game of treasure hunt. That damn pout could really make anybody do anything.

Right after the ninth plate (which was just a plate of whipped cream because... well, because of reasons too hot to mention), Brittany excused herself from the table. She made Santana promise to wait for Sarah before coming after her, and after Santana (very reluctantly) hooked her pinky onto hers, Brittany sauntered away towards the exit.

Santana couldn't keep still. Her right knee couldn't stop bouncing up and down with anxiety even though she already knew whatever game Brittany was playing, it wouldn't have been designed to hurt her (or them, for that matter). Besides, the last time she decide to play along with Brittany's treasure hunt, it had ended with the two of them revisiting the best years of their lives— something Santana was sure she would want a repeat of.

"Miss Lopez," Sarah gave Santana a little tap on her shoulder and Santana glared at the poor woman because, according to her, Sarah sure took her sweet time to get there. "Miss Pierce wanted me to give you these."

Santana eyed the envelope in the woman's hand, and the pair of flip flops in the other, before she took the items. She then set the flip flops on the ground and took out the card from the envelope only to be met with Brittany's handwriting. It wasn't anything elegant, her girlfriend's writing. It was just cute and soft and the letters looked like they were written by a teenager. Kind of like her own, except Brittany didn't heart her i's like she still did sometimes.

(Well. Guess that further confirmed her as the hopelessly romantic schoolgirl in the relationship.)

_"Hey, Love," _ oh, how the butterflies in Santana's stomach fluttered fiercely to the walls when she read the greeting. She could even hear Brittany breathe the words out. _"Sorry I couldn't stay with you, but the hunt is still on. So... no cheating, put on the flip flops, go to the beach and for the sun we_'_ll hang a (insert your best guess here, babe), you can hold the string."_

_What?_ Santana scrunched her face in thought. _That doesn't even make sense._

The confused woman looked towards Sarah, whose clueless and sickeningly sweet smile got really annoying now because Santana just wanted to be with Brittany, for God's sake. But even if she asked Sarah, she was sure the hostess didn't have a clue about the hunt she was taking part of.

"Miss Pierce wanted me to show you the back door that leads directly to the beach," Sarah told her and gestured towards the bottom of the stairs from which she came from. "Whenever you're ready, Miss Lopez."


	3. Three

Lemon bright balloon.

That was the answer to the riddle— and the lyrics to the song Brittany was using for the treasure hunt.

_"And for the sun we'll hang a lemon bright balloon, you can hold the string." _Santana sang quietly just to make sure the words fit now she was walking along the beach, looking for a lemon bright balloon to hold on to, following Brittany's request that was relayed by Sarah.

_"Ms. Pierce wanted me to tell you to just walk left until you see the next hint, Ms. Lopez," Sarah had told Santana as she borrowed her shoulder as support, taking off her shoes and putting on the flip-flops. "And to just enjoy it because it could be a long walk depending on... how things go."_

_"So I just..." Santana narrowed her eyes looking around, hoping to spot something in the distance. She failed of course, seeing nothing but a horizon of sand. "I just walk? That's it? Are you sure she didn't tell you anything else?"_

_Sarah shook her head apologetically and gave her a polite smile. "Sorry, Ms. Lopez. That's all I got for now."_

_Santana huffed in hesitance. "OK then. Guess I'll... start walking..."_

And so, there she was, 10 minutes after that conversation, still walking a little bit aimlessly towards... nothing else but _left_.

Despite being slightly frustrated, she completely enjoyed her surroundings. Because that part of the beach was owned by Summer Sky, her walk was undisturbed. Barring a few seagulls and several people who were actually part of the cafe's staff, cleaning and making sure the sand was fluffy (Santana still couldn't believe fluffing sand was an actual job), there was practically nobody on that beach.

The beautiful day that she had met for the first time on Summer Sky's upper deck stayed being a beautiful day. The only change she saw was the sky's hue; slowly turning cotton candy from a simple light blue as it was nearing sunset. In fact, the sun was already so close to touching the ocean, and it looked almost as big as the one she and Brittany saw setting in Hawaii when they were celebrating Santana's album release.

(And that celebration involved a lot of things that weren't necessarily PG. So, SO much more than just a few sweet lady kisses. Between the ensuite sauna and hot tub, Santana just couldn't see why she shouldn't booked a second trip to that resort.)

After a little while, Santana took a moment to rest and bury her feet under the warm sand (10 full minutes of walking on the beach could really tire you). Looking at the lovely view unfolding before her, she wondered if watching the sunset together was part of Brittany's plan.

But.

Probably not. She was a little confident that it was— until she realized that Brittany was still nowhere in her sight. Let alone next to her to witness the sun melting into the water.

Santana was still standing quiet, taking in the streaks of reds and pinks in the sky when she suddenly heard a voice telling someone to "come back!" in the distance.

She knew that voice. She knew it well. She used to be in close vicinity to that voice all throughout high school, and up until that day, she still heard it regularly through her voice message system. Most of the time the owner of the voice gave her updates about her life as a "junior lawyer too busy to look for love" and, in turn, Santana would leave her messages about how lame she thought her friend was for pretending to be too busy— and for not giving enough chance for a French photographer who was head over heels for her.

"Beth!" Santana heard again. "Beth, come back, sweetie!"

This time, a different voice appeared. "No! Look, she's right over there!"

Still facing the ocean, Santana closed her eyes— and smiled even though she hadn't seen the owners of those voices yet. It wasn't until she heard footsteps from behind her that she turned around.

"Hey, mini Quinn," Santana greeted the girl who immediately wrapped her little arms around her waist. "Are you wearing out your mom again?"

"Not my fault I'm too fast for her," Beth giggled. "Hi, Aunt Santana."

Santana crouched down and gave the little girl a kiss on her cheek. "Hi, honey. Didn't expect you to be here until next week."

"We decided to come early," a sweet syrupy voice came from behind them and Santana looked over her shoulder. "Hey, S."

"What are the odds of seeing you guys here," Santana stood up and gave her second best friend a hug with one arm. "Are you sure you're not stalking me or something?"

"Shelby had something to do in LA and she didn't have anyone to keep an eye on Beth. Then I got an opportunity to go here," Quinn walked over, her shoes in her hands, "and we were already planning to come visit you guys anyway, so I thought, rather than going back and forth, I could just stay longer."

"Yeah. I don't have school until..." Beth chimed in, trailed off, and counted the months with her fingers. "Quinn? August?"

"That's right, baby. August." Quinn cooed and stroked her daughter's blonde hair. A sweet sight that Santana could never get enough of. She had always felt bad for Quinn ever since she had to give up her baby, but she was too wrapped up in her own war against the world that she didn't know how to show it. And now... now that Quinn had that second chance from Shelby, Santana prayed every day that nothing was going to wreck the arrangement for the _unique_ family situation.

"So...You guys are just walking around the beach or what?" Santana smirked.

"We were waiting for you!" said Beth excitedly.

"Oh?" Santana raised an eyebrow at Beth before looking at Quinn. "You were?"

Quinn gave her a signature smirk in return. "Come on, Beth. Let's show Aunt Santana our sandcastle."

"Ooh!" Beth's eyes widened. "Yesss! Let's go!"

Santana furrowed her eyebrows. "No, wait, I can't. I have... something to do."

"Relax," Quinn looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "You'll still be going_ left_."

With that, Quinn took Beth by the hand and both blondes started to walk away from Santana, whose brain was still processing what her friend had just said.

Left?

_Wait! Left!_

"Quinn!" Santana yelled at the mother walking away from her. "Did you see Brittany? Where is she? Quinn!"

"Aunt Santana," Beth stopped in her tracks, turned around and gave the brunette a pointed look, just like her mother look at defendants in the court room. "If you want your answers, quit asking questions and start walking!"

oOoOo

As it turned out, it was quite a walk to get to Quinn and Beth's destination. It was okay, though, because as much as her patience was wearing thin, Santana had a very soft spot when it came to Beth. Maybe it was because Beth reminded her so much of her biological mother, and because Santana kind of felt guilty for not being there for Quinn as much as she should while the blonde was pregnant... or maybe, with her and Brittany's relationship's progression over years, she just secretly had really grown to love (the idea of) kids.

"She's growing up so fast," Santana jerked her chin at Beth. The little girl was walking a few steps ahead of herself and Quinn, stopping occasionally to collect sea shells scattered on the ground. "The last time I saw her, she was tiny! Not as tiny as Rachel, but still... teeny tiny!"

Quinn chuckled. "That was on christmas, which was just around 5 months ago. I doubt that she was _that _tiny, Santana."

"Whatever," Santana pouted. "She's growing up too fast for my liking. God. I can't believe she was inside your belly at one point."

"Hmm. I can't believe it either." Quinn nodded with a smile. "Can't believe I let her go, went crazy and tried to win her back, then got shoved away, and then finally got her back again."

"Wow... when you say that out loud, it sounds..."

"What?"

"I don't know," Santana tried to find her words. "It's just... damn, Q... you've been through a lot."

"Eh," shrugged Quinn nonchalantly. "We all did. I'm just grateful all of us bounced right back up. Us, two, especially."

Santana smiled softly, still looking at Quinn's replica who was crouching on the sand a few steps in front of her, picking up a sparkly piece of a pink shell.

"I think... that's because even though we're the biggest bitches out there, in the end we know what matters the most. You have Beth," Santana turned her head to look at Quinn, "and me Britt."

"Can't argue with that," Quinn nodded. "The first day Shelby let me see Beth again... I just... I couldn't understand how I could be so selfish and spent that much time away from my own daughter. And although she still can't call me mommy yet... I'm pretty happy with where we are."

"Hey, the important thing is that you're here now, right? And that you have a beautiful relationship with your daughter?" Santana put a hand on Quinn's shoulder.

It took Quinn a while to regain Shelby's trust before the nationally known choir instructor let the lawyer meet her daughter once again. She had to basically build her life out of Lima from scratch, just to prove her independence to Shelby... and probably her sanity too. Santana genuinely thought the stability was good for her former Cheerios co-captain, but sometimes she wondered if it made Quinn a little bit too... focused?

Maybe focused was the wrong word. Point was, Quinn needed to be... open. To anything besides her work life. To life. To love.

That French guy she had been dating for a while, for example. Yeah, Quinn totally needed to realize that it was time for her to start trusting him. Both Santana and Brittany had met him. Only once, though, and neither of them approved of Marcel right away. But from what Quinn had told them over phone calls and video conferences, it seemed like Marcel was in it to stay. It's never easy, dating someone with a unique extra baggage like Quinn's, but so far, he'd been handling it like a champ— and that was exactly what Santana and Brittany had been telling her the last few months.

"Enough about me," Quinn let out a sharp breath and gave Santana a smile. "How are you and Britt?"

Santana shrugged, a little bit on edge. "You tell me. I mean, obviously you're in on this whole treasure hunt thing."

Quinn laughed. "Yup. Sure am. Which means I can't really tell you what she had planned."

"Quiiiiinn," Santana whined. "Seriously?"

Quinn chuckled again. "Patience, Santana. Let's just walk."

oOoOo

Lemon bright balloon.

That was the first thing Santana saw when she, Quinn and Beth got to the spot where the mother and daughter had set down their beach equipments. She could tell by the dry, crumbling small sandcastle in front of the folding chairs that they had been at the beach for a while.

"Quinn... What did Brittany tell you? Where is she? Was she here?" Santana spoke out hurriedly as she turned to face her friend. Then she continued with an unnaturally sweet tone. "Please can I have the balloon?"

"Whoa, there," chuckled Quinn. "Hold your horses, lady. One thing at a time. I don't know where Brittany is, but yes she was here and as for the balloon... Brittany gave it to Beth and you'd have to ask her that. But first... here's a letter from Britt."

Santana watched as Quinn pulled out a small envelope from her purse and quickly snatched it. Quinn just rolled her eyes at her, but let Santana hastily open the letter to read what was in it.

_Hey baby,_

_Found these two blondes the other day and we know how much you love blondes._

_Kidding ;)_

_I know you've been wanting to spend more time with Quinn and that you wish you could fly her out here sooner, so I called her up. Turns out it was perfect timing cause she was already coming here with Shelby and Beth. And sorry, I know you thought you were going to find me with the next clue (if you haven't figured it out, Beth has it), but I actually have something very important to do tonight. So, I asked Quinn to keep you company in the mean time. I promise you'll see me later before the day ends._

_Tell Quinn I love her, and tell Beth I will take her out for cake and ice cream the next time we meet. But don't even think about leaving them behind cause it's really up to them whether or not you'd get the last piece of the puzzle ;)_

_P.S. I love you._

_P.P.S. - "P.P" sounds funny._

_P.P.P.S. Because I can't say it just once, I love you._

Santana folded the letter again, put it into the envelope it came with, kissed the back of it where a heart was drawn by hand, then slid it safely into her back pocket. She felt a little bit frustrated, sure, but—

"You... are so whipped! Like, seriously whipped," said Quinn, mesmerized by her friend's reaction. "Britt told me you might be slightly angry about this, but... guess she was wrong. Look at you, all smitten and stuff."

Santana, with the right side of her bottom lip between her teeth, a smile and a shrug, answered the accusation coming from the woman behind her. "Bite me, Quinn. I'm in love. So what if I loved reading Brittany's handwriting and hearing her voice in my head while I do? What's so wrong about that?"

Quinn laughed out loud. "Nothing," she shook her head. "Nothing at all. I'm just... I'm really happy for you, Santana. For both of you."

Santana narrowed her eyes at the lawyer. "Oookaaay... what aren't you telling me? My Mexican third eye is telling me you're hiding something. I can hear it in your voice. Spill!"

"Miss Fabray, Miss Lopez," a voice called from behind them and both women turned around to find—

"Sarah?" Santana raised an eyebrow. First at the hostess, then at the four waiters behind her who were pushing carts of... random things. "What are you doing here?"

Sarah directed her coworkers to start setting up the carts by just pointing her fingers at spots on the sand. "Miss Pierce arranged a small dinner get together for you. Miss Fabray, I was told you're in charge?"

"Yes, I am," answered Quinn, and Santana looked at her with wide eyes. "Just do whatever you think is best, but please get the kids menu out first. It's almost my daughter's dinner time."

"Not a problem," the Summer Sky host smiled. "Would you like me to give the little miss her plate directly so she could start?"

Quinn nodded and smiled. "Sure. Thanks, Sarah."

Santana watched the exchange with curious eyes. "How long did you know about this? Britt said she saw you the other day but there's no way you had just known about all of this."

"All of what?"

"This!" Santana gestured with her hands, pointing out all the things going on in front of them. Waiters setting up tables for the food, building a small bonfire... Brittany really did thought it all through.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Quinn gave her a wink which, of course, earned her a reply in the form of a low growl a la Lima Heights. "Come on," Quinn said again pulling Santana to the pop up dinner table. "My daughter is hungry."

oOoOo

It was the best dinner she had ever had with Quinn, if Santana might say so. All the brief Skype sessions and texts really couldn't replace the number of fun and ridiculous lunch breaks in between classes and cheerleading practices that they used to share with Brittany. The Unholy Trinity: starting together, ending together.

It was a shame, though, that once they got out of McKinley, out of all the people she was in the Glee club with, Quinn was the only one she didn't see a lot of. Well, okay, maybe if you counted Trouty Mouth out, she was.

(She still had Sam as a friend on Facebook, and truth be told, she had been somewhat OK about him being one of Brittany's exes. But nothing could change the hate she had for him after learning that Sam tricked Brittany into eating cereal off the dirty floor and gave her food poisoning. Santana also didn't like how he used Brittany's fear of the end of the world as an excuse and proposed a marriage. "_What an emotional blackmail_," Santana always said.)

The other Glee kids that she actually cared about... Well, for starters, her former roommates also known as the Hobbit and Ladyface, visited LA all the time because of their contribution in the showbiz world. Mike Chang, the wonder boy whose dance talents surpasses his shadow, co-founded a dance company in Hollywood with one of his buddies. Tina? Well... let's just say that wherever Mike went, she did too. Wait, let's make that she _and_ their two adorable sons.

Santana even still saw Artie every once in a while, mostly during video shoots because, lo and behold, Artie's dream of being a director came true after graduating from a highly respected film school. In fact, they even made an arrangement recently for Artie to direct a video for Santana's next single after its release— an idea that was celebrated _thoroughly_ by his wife, none other than (the infamously known through a reality show about rich trust fund babies), Sugar Motta.

So, yeah, Quinn was pretty much the only one.

(Santana just didn't care about the rest of them. Not that much, anyway. At least, not more than casually stalking Puck & FInn's 2-man band's tour dates and going in disguise to watch them perform at House of Blues.)

(Okay, okay, fine. So she cared for them too. So what?)

"How was your dinosaur nuggets, mini Quinn?" Santana asked Beth. The three of them are now lounging on the chairs, enjoying the coolness of the ocean breeze and the warmth of the bonfire at once. Beth was busy playing with her mother's iPhone ("kids these days," Santana shook her head) while the older women were nursing their glasses of wine, fully content of the fillet mignon Brittany had ordered for them.

"Awesome," Beth grinned.

"I know, right? I had the same thing for lunch!"

Quinn cocked an eyebrow. "You did? Santana Lopez, the Grammy Award winner, had dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets for lunch. Wow, I could almost see that headline on TMZ."

"Brittany wanted to relive our years together. So... she ordered nine dishes and we just... you know... took a trip down the memory lane. One dish for one year."

"Aw," Quinn pursed her lips. "That is _so_ cute."

"It was," a pause. "And yes, yes, I'm whipped. Whatever."

"Quinn?"

Quinn looked at her daughter. "Yes, baby?"

"What does 'whipped' mean?"

"It means..." Quinn glanced at Santana who was busy scratching her nose, pretending to not care so much about the answer. "It's when you love someone so much that you're willing to do anything for them. Right, Santana?"

"Mm-hmm," Santana nodded.

"So..." Beth pondered. "You mean Aunt Santana loves Aunt Britt so much, that she'll do whatever Aunt Britt wants?"

"Pretty much," Santana confirmed. She scrunched her nose because when Beth put it like that, it sounded like she had no control of their relationship whatsoever. Then again, she figured she didn't really want to live in a world where Brittany wasn't whipping her.

(Wanky.)

"So... kind of like Marcel?" asked Beth to her mother.

"Marcel?" Santana quirked an eyebrow, intrigued at the name. "_The_ Marcel? The French photographer? Quinn! You sl—"

"Santana!" Quinn's eyes widened, afraid of Santana's use of language in front of her 7-year-old.

"—ow poke!" Santana cringed apologetically at Quinn for almost defiling her daughter's ears. "That's _still _going on? When are you going to tell me about it? Are you two, y'know," she glanced at Beth, who was already busy playing the smartphone again, and whispered, "getting serious?"

"Marcel picked me up from my last day of school the other day because she had a meeting," Beth chimed in, with her fingers covering her little mouth as she yawned.

"Did he now?" Santana took a sip of her wine and smirked at Quinn. "Well, well, well... That's mighty nice of him. Q? Care to explain?"

Little kids have the most amazing perception. As if on cue, Beth put on her headphones and started to fiddle with her mother's internet radio application. She then started to sing along to whatever song it was playing through the speakers— like she wanted to tell the women she wasn't listening to their conversation.

"It was nothing," Quinn told Santana in a hushed tone. "It just so happened that I couldn't get out of a meeting with a client, so I asked Marcel for a favor."

"A favor," Santana smirked. "Uh-huh."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," the brunette smirked again. "So when are you marrying this guy?"

"What?!" Quinn's hazel eyes widened. "I'm not getting married! If anything, you are!"

"What?!" Now it was Santana's turn to be shocked. "Quinn, is Brittany proposing? You better tell me the truth! Don't mess with my head right now!"

Quinn felt her eyes were about to fall off their sockets. "No! I didn't mean it like that! I just mean that you guys have been in a relationship for a really long time, and I happen to think it's the natural progression for you. Marcel and I have only been dating for a few months, on the other hand."

"Oh my God," Santana let out a long breath. "Don't ever do that to me again. It felt like a heart attack."

"Why?" Quinn asked nervously. "Don't you wanna get married to her?"

"D'uh," Santana waved her hand dismissively. "Of course I do."

"Oh," the blonde exhaled her worry. "Good."

"Um, not that I'm not happy that you care about our relationship," Santana furrowed her eyebrows. "But why are you worried?"

"You guys are my best friends," Quinn tried to find an excuse. "I'm just... y'know... concerned... about... stuff."

"Wow, Quinn," mocked Santana. "With that vocabulary of yours, I'm sure clients are _just_ lining up for your attorney skills."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Santana. I _am_ worried. Why don't you want Brittany to propose?"

Santana huffed and fiddled with her fingers. Then, in one short sentence, she let it all out. "Cuzagotaring."

"YOU GOT A RING?! SANTANA!" Quinn almost choked on her wine and sat upright to look at her friend better. "WHEN?!"

"I'd been working together with one of Kurt's jeweler friends for the design for months now, and I picked it up last week when Brittany was in rehearsal for Mercedes' show. You wanna see?"

Quinn was taken aback with the question. "What, like... you have the ring with you?"

"I kinda carry it around everywhere. I don't want to hide it somewhere in the drawer just to have her find it on accident," Santana shrugged and pulled out a cliche velvet box from her purse.

"Oh my God," Quinn covered her mouth as soon as Santana opened the lid. The ring sparkled, reflecting the small bonfire that was still burning a few feet away from them. "That's so perfect for her."

"You really think so?" Santana bit her lip and her uncertainty was dismissed by Quinn.

"Totally."

"It's sapphire," Santana explained. "It's yellow because in our world— in_ my_ world— she's the light. I hope she likes it."

"Santana," Quinn grabbed her friend's hand. "She will love it. Even if it's a ring pop, she'd love it. And you know why?"

"Because... it's still a ring?"

Quinn gave Santana's arm a little slap. "Because she loves you, dummy!"

"Oh," Santana blushed and took a deep breath before she answered. "Yeah, she does."

"Sap," Quinn said into her wine glass.

"Bitch," Santana took a sip too. "What about you, _Quinny_? Don't think I've forgotten about Marcel. What is this about him picking up Beth from school? That's a pretty big step, you know? I mean... for you."

Quinn leaned back on the chair and took a few seconds before she answered. "Yeah, I guess it was. I didn't think it was a big deal when I asked him, but the minute I hung up that phone, I totally panicked."

"God," Santana snorted. "I could just picture you right now, freaking out for no reason but the fact that you've finally accepted that you're dating a good guy."

"I know. There's something wrong with me. Like there's this loose wire up in my brain somewhere, y'know?" Quinn huffed and Santana said nothing. She didn't want to break the rare moment of Quinn opening up. "Every second I feel like something's about to go wrong, and when nothing happens? I just fear for the next day."

"Hmm," Santana hummed, nodding along to the story. "I used to feel like that all the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. When I first got back together with Britt, I felt like that. Like I knew something was bound to break. But," Santana shifted in her seat to a more comfortable position, "at the same time, I also knew that I _don't _ want to mess it up. I _don't_ want to let go what Britts and I have. You know what I'm saying?"

"I think I do," nodded Quinn. "I... I guess I kinda feel the same way."

"So... you don't wanna mess things up with Marcel?" Santana batted her eyelashes and completely changed her tune into teasing. "You wanna make little French babies with him?"

"_Tana,_" mocked Quinn with an overly sweet tone. "Don't you wanna know where Brittany is? If you keep this up I'm going to take Beth home and away from you, without that last clue. Besides," she looked at her daughter who was half asleep on her chair. "It's past Beth's bedtime anyway."

Santana's jaw dropped. "Not fair! Beth!"

"Quinn... that's not nice..." said Beth sleepily.

"Nice, Santana... Tattle on me to my own daughter."

"Fine. Since your daughter's clearly out of it, I'm gonna let you go. But this conversation's not over. You're here for more than a week so I'm totally gonna grill you about it next time," Santana stuck her tongue out at Quinn. She then stood up and walked over to Beth's lounge chair. She did, you know, have a mission to complete.

"Beth, baby," Santana crouched down and stroked the little girl's blonde hair. "Did Aunt Brittany tell you to give me something? I promise you can go home after this and sleep. And she told me she'd buy you cake and ice cream the next time you guys meet."

Beth nodded slowly and untied the balloon that was stuck to the back of the chair. "Here," she gave the balloon to Santana. "You can hold the string."

_Just like the song_, Santana thought with a smile.

"Thanks, honey," said Santana, accepting her lemon bright balloon with her right hand. Then she used her left to take off a tiny roll of paper tied to it— Brittany's last hint. Once she had read the message, her face lit up. She knew exactly where Brittany was.

"Come on, baby," Quinn held her hand out for Beth and the girl took it. "Let's head home. Can you walk?"

Beth nodded again and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as much as possible. "I'm a big girl."

Quinn smiled and bent over to give her daughter a kiss on her forehead. "That you are, little lady. Santana, the valet parked your car near ours. Wanna walk there together?"

"Sure, but," Santana turned around and looked at the unattended beach. "Who's going to take care of all this?"

"Don't worry about it. Sarah's coming back later," Quinn assured her.

"Come on, Aunt Santana," Beth grabbed Santana's free hand and gave it a tug that the three of them started to walk hand in hand together.

It was a quiet walk. Beth was too busy concentrating on her steps so that she wouldn't trip and fall forward. Quinn was... well, from the faraway look in her eyes, Santana was sure her best friend was thinking about a certain photographer back in the East Coast.

Santana?

Santana was just cherishing the feeling that she had growing from the bottom of her heart's pit. She looked at her hand, and Beth's tiny one inside of it, and just... overwhelmed by the want of sharing_ that_ feeling with Brittany. A little girl (or a little boy) of their own in their arms.

Someday.

_Yeah, definitely someday, _Santana smiled to herself.

"What did Britt say?" Santana heard Quinn's voice and snapped out of her daze. "The clue?"

"Oh," Santana blinked a couple of times. "It said, _'Paradise: Population Two'_."

Quinn scrunched her eyebrows. Clearly she had no idea what the line was about. "You know what it means?"

"Yeah," Santana nodded. "Home. I'm going home."

* * *

_**A/N:** Unbeta'd and probably crap, sorry :)_

_And yes, yes, almost no Brittana in this chapter and too much Quinn... But I promise lots of Brittana in the next!_

_Thank you all for the reviews, follows and faves! Means a lot— now that Brittana's somewhat over in their actual world. Somewhat._

_I feel blue, kinda :(_


	4. Four

_**A/N:** Sorry for the really long wait! I had tons of things to do and I couldn't fit writing this fic anywhere in my schedule up until last week :| Thanks for being patient... thanks for the follow, favorite and reviews!_

_Also, always, I apologize for the subpar writing compared to other stuff that's out there. This story was meant to be a way of dipping my toes back into the water cause I had spent quite a big chunk of time not writing anything at all. Hope you could still enjoy it :)_

_Alrighty roo, happy reading!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own, produce, or in any other way is affiliated with Glee. Therefore, Brittana is always on in my world. And it's such a pretty, pretty world._

* * *

•

•

Is it strange to be nervous because you don't feel nervous about something crazy (but completely right) that you are about to do?

Yes.

But whatever. Brittany could feel whatever she wanted to feel because the night was hers.

Correction — the night was hers and Santana's. Her girlfriend just didn't know it yet. Or maybe she had an inkling after the treasure hunt Brittany sent her to — which was perfectly fine because she knew Santana definitely had a gift in dissecting certain things. Especially stuff that frustrated her. And boy, did Brittany knew Santana was frustrated because she had just sent her a text.

**_Incoming message (1)_**

**_From: My little snixx_**

_it's seriously frustrating how u keep ditching me. omw home. u better b there. preferably wearing sth hot._

Yep. Definitely frustrated. Brittany shook her head with amusement reading the text message. Santana could be _such_ a horn dog sometimes.

The first person Brittany told about her plan was her mom, who immediately squealed loudly through the phone like a fangirl who just won meet-and-greet tickets to see their favorite band.

_"You call me as soon as you ask her, OK Britt? Tell me everything—wait! No! Don't tell me everything. I've already heard too much during your teenage years," _mused Lily Pierce.

Brittany, who had been always open to her mother and somewhat immune to conversations other people would count as too much information, only grinned even though she knew the woman on the other side of the line couldn't see her. "I will, mom," she told the older woman before she promised the whole family a visit sometime in August, just like she and Santana had planned.

The second person she Skyped was Santana's mom, Maribel Lopez, who was surprisingly, not to mention suspiciously, calm about Brittany's plan. After a pause that lingered in the air for 13 Mississippis (Brittany actually counted as they passed and held her breath), the blonde woman finally realized that the reason of the silence was Maribel's attempt to keep her chuckles from surfacing into real laughter because- well, Brittany still wasn't sure why Maribel was laughing. But the Puerto Rican woman was quick to apologize and assured her that she had her blessing. Then she said something weird.

_"I hope you win the race, sweetie," _Maribel had told her and Brittany only responded with an _okay_ that ended with a question mark. After that, Maribel wished Brittany a great day and hung up, leaving her hopeful future daughter-in-law scratching her right eyebrow in confusion.

The third person she told was Mercedes.

And Rachel.

And Kurt.

Oh. And also Sugar.

They were all in a video conference together because Mercedes wanted to spread the wings of her production company and do a bicoastal collaboration project. They were planning a crossover between popular art and musical theater — which the Motta family is happy to fund (still not in the mafia, by the way — or at least that was what Sugar insisted).

Right in the middle of a heated discussion about the obvious geographical issues they knew they were going to face by involving 2 different ends of the country, Brittany suddenly blurted her plan out in the open as a distraction. A mere second passed in silence before Rachel announced that she was going to be in charge of entertainment (_"I'll sing at your wedding!"_); Mercedes praised the Lord (_"Praise the Lord!"_); and Kurt squealed his plans (_"We're going to have our own private Say Yes To The Dress event! I don't care if you tried on 47 or 2859 dresses, both you and Santana — and myself, of course — are going to find the perfect ones!"_).

Sugar? She excitedly jumped up and down, clapping her hands together as she listed names of the people who could help Brittany and Santana plan their wedding (_"especially when you need to get rid of some people from your venue of choice's waitlist, if you know what I mean."_).

Brittany didn't want to know what Sugar had _really_ meant (_"not in the mafia, my ass," _she had thought).

The fourth (seventh) person was Quinn. After all, the Unholy Trinity stick together for always — even though she had to swallow a bitter pill when she learned about the interesting night Santana and Quinn had after Mr. Schue's non-wedding that one year.

She was the fourth (seventh) not because Brittany didn't want to tell her sooner, though. Brittany tried almost everything to get in touch with Quinn, but at the time the lawyer was just juggling too many things at once. It had always been an issue for Quinn to allow herself a little bit of time to relax. If she were given a choice between a fully blown balloon and another that's still flat, Quinn would probably pick the flat one just because she needed to busy herself and feel accomplished afterwards. Honorable, yes, and both Brittany and Santana couldn't be any prouder of their friend, but sometimes it hurts to witness how Quinn still felt like she wasn't good enough for anything, or anyone, anymore.

The many phone calls that Brittany made in effort to tell Quinn about her plan were answered by a previously recorded message that told her that the other blonde was going to call back soon. Those soon's only turned out to be 5-minute conversations that were mostly wasted on them greeting each other, asking about the other's day before one of them (it was always Quinn, actually) eventually had to hang up because of their work demands. But Brittany was smarter than to wait for Quinn to take a well-deserved break. She knew she had to give up calling Quinn at normal hours. She knew that the only way to reach Quinn was when she became an owl, sometime between 2-4 AM EST when Quinn was busy (of course) playing catch up with her emails and documents that she couldn't finish during the day.

When Brittany called Quinn that night (it was a little after midnight in California and she had to make the call from the guest room so she wouldn't have woken up Santana), her reaction was as expected. The lawyer was cool and collected about Brittany's announcement, actually proclaiming that she had been expecting the proposal to happen sooner. Then they started to talk about the details, the hows and whens and all the other details — which was how Quinn and Beth ended up keeping Santana company while Brittany made sure the whole house was perfect for the very, _very_ important occasion.

Originally, Brittany considered scattering flower petals onto the floor. But then she thought it was too... romantic? Not that romantic was bad! Romantic was definitely good. But just for this time, she didn't want it to be something that she once saw in movies. None of that Serendipity scene with Annie Lennox playing in the background — she wanted it to be about them and only them. She wanted it to be _true_.

So, faithful to the nostalgic theme she had going on at Summer Sky, Brittany had reprinted the hundreds of selfies (well, technically, two-shots because they were always in the photos together) that Santana and herself had taken throughout the years and hung them all over the house. Birthdays, christmases, new year's eves, glee club, bathroom breaks, Cheerios practices, picnics at the park... every waking moment and even some sleeping ones.

A text alert from her phone snapped Brittany out of her daze.

**_Incoming message (1)_**

**_From: Beth's Mommy_**

_U ready?_

Brittany quickly typed a reply for Quinn.

**_Outgoing message_**

**_To: Beth's Mommy_**

_I sure am. How much time until she's here? Ur not driving r u?_

_•_

**_Incoming message (1)_**

**_From: Beth's Mommy_**

_Just got back 2 the hotel with Beth. U got probably 5 mins left btw._

_•_

**_Incoming message (2)_**

**_From: Beth's Mommy_**

_Good luck, hon. I love u both._

Brittany smiled at the last text message. She was really glad Quinn could be a part of this important point in their lives.

**_Outgoing message_**

**_To: Beth's Mommy_**

_Love u too & thx for today. Kiss Beth for me :) See u soon! _

As soon as she pressed the SEND button, Brittany looked around the living room to figure out what she needed to do next. She shrugged with contentment. It looked like she was finished. The pictures were hung (thank you, kind man at the craft store who helped her find the right string and pins), the lights were dimmed, her 54 battery-operated candles were also set and ready (thank you again, kind man at the craft store who reminded her that big numbers of candles and photos in one room were just asking for trouble).

There was really nothing left for her to do but wait.

And as if on cue, Brittany heard Santana's car enter the driveway. She took a deep breath and did a few jumps just make sure she still had control over her body.

_This is it_, Brittany thought as she heard the door knob being turned. She put her phone on silent and threw it onto the couch.

Brittany couldn't see Santana's reaction upon seeing the photos that she had hung up and down the hallway, but the way Santana gasped pretty much let her know that she did good.

"Babe?" Santana called to her, voice muffled by the hand that was covering her mouth out of surprised.

Brittany exhaled through the little 'o' that she made with her lips and answered. "In here," she called out to her girlfriend, and she couldn't believe how much emotion she was already feeling. Her voice was so small, she didn't sound like herself at all.

Brittany counted the sound of Santana's footsteps on the parquet flooring of their house and felt her heart was about to burst with each one. It took 17 steps to get from the front door to the living room and Brittany almost died when she reached 15. Evidently, she was too quick to claim that she wasn't nervous.

Santana appeared underneath the archway that connected the foyer to the living room still wearing the same too-casual-to-be-a-Grammy-winning-artist red hoodie and her favorite pair of jeans from this morning, but Brittany still found her the most wonderful, most beautiful creature in the whole wide world.

Brittany cleared her throat. "Hi," she smiled at the woman in front of her, whose feet seemed to can't step further into the room out of confusion (or something).

"Hi," Santana choked back and Brittany could tell she was already connecting the dots in that pretty head of hers.

Brittany offered her girlfriend a hand. "C'mere," she said with another smile and Santana hurriedly move to take the offer.

"Britt, is this —"

"Ssh," Brittany stopped Santana from talking more. "What do you see?"

"I..." Santana looked around the house from where she was standing. "I see us."

Brittany nodded. "Mm-hmm... I see us too. What else?"

"I see... our whole lives," Santana said, letting Brittany's hands bring hers up for the blonde to kiss.

"Me too," said Brittany with yet another nod and tugged Santana's hands down, silently asking Santana to come sit with her on the carpet. Santana obliged and they moved together in sync to their knees — without taking their eyes off one another.

"Santana... When we sang Landslide with Ms. Holiday back in high school, you sang that you built your whole life around me," Brittany started to talk. "At the time I didn't know what that had meant, and I had to figure out what it did. A little while after that I realized that it had meant exactly that — that you _had _built your life around me. You taught me how to tell right from left, you helped me read those confusing textbooks, you slashed people who were mean to me with your vicious, vicious words..."

Santana chuckled with Brittany when she heard that last bit. "I still do," she proudly stated.

"Yup," Brittany shook her head with amusement. "You still do. I believe that rude waiter the other night went back to the kitchen crying."

"He deserved it," Santana shrugged. "He gave us soggy breadsticks."

Brittany smiled simply. She gave her girlfriend's hands a squeeze and looked down. "Santana," she called out tentatively.

Santana gulped. She could feel the air changing. Into what? She didn't know yet. "Yes?"

"I..." Brittany took a deep breath and let it out again. "I don't want that anymore."

"What...?" Santana felt her heart stop. She couldn't believe the wonderful day that she just had ended in such a sad note. It was such a shock she couldn't even stop the tears from pooling in her eyes. "Did you do all this to break up with me? Whatever it is I did, I'm sorry! I'll make it right!"

Brittany's eyes widened because she didn't realize what her words had implied until she saw the tears in Santana's eyes, dropping one by one. "No!" she quickly shook her head and pulled her girlfriend into a hug. _Way to not screw this up, self, _Brittany cursed herself. "No, baby, I'm not breaking up with you."

"Then," Santana sniffled and pulled away. "Then what is it? You're scaring me."

"I'm sorry," said Brittany. "You know words aren't my forte. Do you remember that little speech I made about tornados? That was a disaster," she chuckled.

"I thought that was heartfelt and beautiful," with the back of her hand, Santana wiped her tears away. "Seriously, Britt. What's going on? I'm about to die from not knowing."

"I'm sorry. Just let me finish, okay?" Brittany said again and kissed Santana's temple gently. She wiped the rest of her girlfriend's tears with her thumbs and when she got a nod as a response, she shuffled closer with her knees.

"I love you," Brittany started. "I love you... more than anything and anyone — even more than I love watching stars, morning cereals and unicorns, and that's really saying something because I really, _really_ love unicorns. And... as I was saying, I don't want you to do that anymore. I don't want you to build_ your _life around me because," she took another deep breath and released it shakily with all the nerves that had been tugging her heartstrings — afraid to mess it up once again. "Because it shouldn't be that way. I want _us_ to build _our_ lives around us both. Together. Forever. Until we're old and wrinkly," a pause. "But definitely still hot."

As Santana was trapped between chuckling at Brittany's last remark and holding back her tears, Brittany reached into her pocket and took out a velvet box.

"I really hope you by now you know what I'm trying to tell you," the blonde smiled, withholding her own tears. "Santana, you have been there for me through everything," Brittany sniffled. "Even when we weren't together. You_ see _me. Not just as a blonde dancer, not just as the weird girl who talked to her cat, not just a trophy girlfriend. You see me as a person. You take your time to really get me, and not a lot of people did — or do. You are... the best thing that's ever happened to me and I just —"

Somewhere along Brittany's speech, Santana had raised her left hand to cover her mouth to stifle a gasp because... well, for one thing, she wasn't stupid. She had seen this scene in a number of movies before. Hell, she had imagined this moment since... since forever (but even more frequently ever since she admitted to herself how much she was in love with Brittany). She had imagined being on her knees, popping a question as well as a ring to promise forever to this woman in front of her — the woman who had been with her since the very beginning, the one who had never once doubted what she was capable of.

"I just want you to keep me forever," Brittany told her. "Santana Lo — "

"Wait," Santana held up one hand and shook her head. "Wait, wait, wait. This isn't the way it's supposed to be."

Brittany looked at Santana with a little disappointment in her eyes and Santana quickly collected a similar box from her pocket; not wanting Brittany to assume anything bad was going to happen.

"That's..." Brittany stared at the velvet container for 1, 2 seconds before it registered in her brain that Santana had the same intention. "You're..."

"Ssh," Santana wiped her thumb across the wet skin underneath Brittany's left eye, just like what Brittany did to her a moment ago. "You've said everything you had to say, now it's my turn, okay?"

A nod was all that Brittany could give Santana at that moment, and the raven haired woman gave her girlfriend a smile back.

"Brittany... I have never been so in love with someone as much as I am with you now," Santana cleared her throat from all of her emotions. "I went through a period of time when I was just so scared of everything, but you were there to cheer me on the whole time. You pushed me through. You challenged me and I found out that I don't ever want to live in a world that has no you in it. I didn't use to believe in magic, in wonder, in fluffy things... but I believe in _you_," she sniffled. "You are all the magic and wonder in my world. I don't know anything else and I don't want to know anything else. Keep me forever, Brittany. Because I want what you want. I want us to build the rest of our lives together. Forever, until we're old and wrinkly — but definitely still hot."

"We will be the hottest old ladies ever," Brittany whispered after chuckling at that last bit.

"Does that mean you're gonna keep me forever?"

"Does that mean _you_ will?"

"Why do I get the feeling this conversation is going to last forever?" Santana chuckled. Then she looked up straight into Brittany's blue eyes and took a deep breath. "Always. You?"

Brittany shook her head and smiled like it was the easiest question ever asked. "I'll _never_ let you go," she leaned over and Santana met her in the middle for the sweetest of the sweetest kisses.

oOoOo

When Brittany woke up the next morning, the first thing she saw was the high ceiling of their bedroom. Then she felt something moving on the skin of her chest so she lifted her head up a little to see Santana's slender hand with a ring adorning one of her fingers. There was something too magical about the whole situation and Brittany was pretty sure she was still dreaming. But the pain that was slowly creeping up her cheeks from grinning too big convinced her that she was indeed awake.

She looked to her left, where her fiancee was still sleeping, and ran her fingers through Santana's hair. Both of them had trouble falling asleep after a few rounds of lady sexy times (hey, it's important to celebrate the good things in life) — and Santana really was still wired from her treasure hunt — that they ended up just talking until 4 AM in the morning. About nothing and everything, until one of them finally dozed off (Brittany could swear it was Santana, but she knew Santana would totally pin that on her).

_"I love you,"_ Brittany's heart told Santana's inaudibly. No real sound was needed because sometimes words are just that: words. And besides, judging from Santana's smile and almost silent hum, she could tell Santana had felt it.

"Morning," Santana mumbled with her eyes still closed. She was laying on her stomach, with one arm under her pillow — a position Brittany had always been familiar with since years before, when they were still high school cheerleaders.

Brittany got rid of the strands of hair that was covering Santana's lovely face like she always did everyday, and tucked them behind her ear. "Morning, honey."

"Mmh... I think that was the best sleep ever," Santana opened her eyes and squinted from the glaring light. "I don't know if it was because of the epic number of multiple O's or the fact that we're now... y'know..." she grinned, "fiancees."

"Mm-hmm," Brittany agreed, nodding slowly. "Any other mornings I would say it's the O's, but right now... definitely the second one."

"I still don't like the fact that you proposed to me first, though. I was so sure I was gonna do it first."

"Ohh," Brittany nodded slowly. "So _that's_ why your mom said that thing about a race."

"Why were you talking to my mom?"

With a raised eyebrow, Brittany looked at Santana pointedly. "D'uh. I was asking for permission."

"Oh. Right. I called your mom too, actually."

"What did she say?"

Santana shrugged. "She went kinda crazy. She was like _omigodomigodsantanaomigodomigoddoyouknowwhatthisme ansomigod. _But your mom always gets hysterical whenever she gets too excited so I took it as a good sign. But anyway... yeah, I was hoping I'd be the one who asked you to marry me. But you," Santana hooped her fiancee's nose, "beat me to the finish."

Brittany smiled sweetly. "Did you like my plan? Did you enjoy the hunt?"

Santana nodded enthusiastically. "I loved it. Sheer genius."

"I was afraid you had forgotten about that song already," Brittany shuffled closer to Santana and nudged her nose with her own, hoping for a good morning kiss.

"Hm," Santana hummed and stretched her neck to give Brittany the kiss that she wanted. "There's _nothing_ about you that I could ever forget. Plus, that song was like... written for you, or something. It's perfect. Just like you."

"Aw, keep sweet talking me and I might just drive you to the studio today," Brittany pulled the covers slightly to cover her body and propped herself on an elbow. "Go on. I'm all ears."

"Actually," Santana flipped her hair and mimicked Brittany's position. "I texted Mercedes. I'm not going to the studio today. You need to be punished for neglecting the most important line from the song."

Brittany furrowed her eyebrows. "What? What line was it?"

Santana leaned closer and whisper-sang right into Brittany's ear. Her raspy voice sent a shudder all over Brittany's body. _"Nothing else to make but breakfast and love." _

"Oh..." Brittany cleared her throat, reminded of the orgasmically majestic night they had just experienced. "That one."

"Yup, that one," Santana made a sudden move and swung her leg over Brittany's body that she was effectively straddling her fiancee. Then with the most seductive look — and a voice that was already too arousing for Brittany, she added, "and, if you're up for it... I'm willing to forgo breakfast altogether. So... what do you say?"

Without a doubt, it was an offer that Brittany couldn't refuse. And as Santana lowered herself for a kiss, Brittany couldn't think of a better way to start the rest of their magical lives together.

(Well... she might change her mind later when they could finally call each other "wifey".)

oOoOo

_Why don't we take a little piece of summer sky_  
_Hang it on a tree_  
_For that's the way to start to make_  
_a pretty world for you and for me_

_And for the sun we'll find a lemon bright balloon_  
_You can hold the string_  
_Oh can't you see that little world of ours_  
_will be the prettiest thing_

_We can gather rain enough for the stream_  
_To hold our happy faces_  
_When we want a breeze, I'll blow you a kiss or two_  
_Take me in your arms and_  
_our little world will be the place of places_  
_Nothing else to make but breakfast and love_

_We'll hang a little sign that just says_  
_Paradise – Population: Two_  
_I know together we can make _  
_a pretty world for me and for you_  
_It's what I long to do_  
_To make a world with you_


End file.
